Wire mesh supported refractory



Jan. 6, 1959 R. E. KRONE WIRE MESH SUPPORTED REFRACTORY Filed Nov. 20, 1953 Pig l.

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I Y1 ven t or Raymond E. Krone,

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His /ttoffey United States Patent Otlce 2,867,112 Patented Jan. 6, 1959 2,867,112 WIRE MESH sUPPoRTED REFRACToRY Raymond E. Krone, Schenectady, N. Y., assignor to General Electric Company, a corporation of New York Application November 20, 1953, Serial No. 393,380

1 Claim. (Cl. 72-50) This invention relates to heat and flame resistant thinwall structural bodies. It is particularly concerned with improved refractory bodies comprising a support structure upon which a heat-resistant coating is carried and which may be fabricated to produce such structures as, for example, a combustor in a gas turbine power plant.

An object of this invention is to provide a light-weight refractory body having high strength.

A further object of this invention is the provision of non-planar, thin-wall, strong, light-weight, refractory bodies.

Another object of this invention is the provision of an internally supported refractory material in which the supporting structure is completely protected by the refractory material.

Another object of this invention is the provision of a refractory material comprising a sheet-like formable support upon both sides of which is bonded a refractory coating, whereby the support is completely protected from corrosion and heat.

The invention is applicable to the construction of combustion liners for combustion chambers and many other similar uses. As disclosed in the Navias Patent 2,564,497, assigned to the same assignee as the present invention, such liners have been previously made by bonding a coating of refractory material to a sheet metal support. This refractory coating is anchored to the sheet metal by means of a plurality of tabs struck from and extending from the sheet metal, formed by punching perforations in the sheet metal by means of a punch which leaves one side of each punching attached to the main body of sheet metal. These tabs are bent out of the plane of the sheet metal and extend a substantial distance therefrom. The refractory material is applied to the sheet metal and by virtue of its engagement after fusion with the holes left in the sheet metal by the punching operation and with the laterally disposed tab surfaces, is anchored securely in place.

This procedure is most satisfactory when only one side of the support sheet is to be coated. If it is desired to coat both sides of the sheet, the additional tabs which extend from the other side of the sheet remove suliicient metal from the base sheet that its strength and rigidity have a tendency to be reduced. This invention provides a substantially planar supporting sheet which may be shaped and refractory material bonded and anchored to both of its sides.

A better understanding of my invention may be had by reference to the accompanying drawing in which Fig. 1 is a fragmentary plan View of the elements of one embodiment of the refractory support;

Fig. 2 is an end View of Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a fragmentary plan view of the elements of a modified refractory support;

Fig. 4 is an end view of Fig. 3;

Fig. 5 is a plan view of the embodiment of the support shown in Fig. l with parts broken away or omitted to show how refractory material is related to the support elements; and

Fig. 6 is an end view of Fig. 5 with parts broken away or omitted.

Referring to Figs. l and 2, the illustrated support structure comprises a substantially planar screen or meshlike integral structure 10 composed of two groups of iilamentary elements 11 and 12. Each of the first group of elements 11 is spaced from and substantially parallel to each other and is disposed at an angle of substantially to and is intertwined between the elements 12 of the other or second group which are likewise parallel to and spaced from each other. lt is to be noted that these groups of elements may be disposed to each other at angles other than 90. A plurality of helical iilamentary elements 13 are intertwined or interwoven through the screen-like structure 10, the axis of each of the helical elements being parallel to the axes of the others and to elements 11 and lying in the plane of structure 1d. As illustrated in Fig. 1, the pitch of each of the helical elements 13 is such that each element 13 passes between'each pair of elements 12, and the helical diameter of each element 13 is such that a plurality of elements 11 are encompassed thereby. As further illustrated in Figs. l and 2, the helical diameter of elements 13 is so selected that a predetermined given number of elements 11 will just lit within the helix, and elements 13 are so arranged with respect to elements 11 that all elements 11 are encompassed by elements 13, but no element 11 is encompassed by more than one helical element 13.

The substantially planar screen-like structure 1t) with the helical support elements 13 may be then shaped to any convenient non-planar configuration and any suitable pulverulent or granular refractory material 14 may then be applied. The refractory 14 is compacted upon and through the network of support elements 11, 12 and 13 and extends a substantial distance from both sides of element 1t), as illustrated in Figs. 5 and 6, and completely covers elements 13. This composite structure is then tired at a suitable temperature and the refractory is thereby bonded and fused to produce a monolithic, internally supported integral body. One such suitable refractory is fused MgO bonded to the support by means of a glass fired on at 1000 C. lt is obvious, however, that many refractory materials might be so bonded to the support structure. Therefore, l do not wish to limit the invention to any particular refractory coating. The iilamentary elements 11, 12 and 13 may be made of any suitable, strong material, for example, metal wire.

Figs. 3 and 4 illustrate a modification of the support structure shown in the other figures. The structural elements in this modification are identical in every respect to those shown in Figs. 1, 2, 5 and 6 except that helical elements 13 are spaced closer together or overlap so that every element 11 is now encompassed by two helical elements 13 and, further, the helical elements 13 are intertwined or interlaced with each other, as may be seen by inspection of Fig. 3.

It is obvious that further modifications are possible Iby varying the spacing of the helical elements to each other and by varying their pitch; however, it is not deemed either necessary or practical to illustrate every possible dimensional permutation and combination of the structural elements.

While the various figures of the drawing illustrate a supported refractory having a substantially planar conguration, it is readily apparent that the internal support elements 11, 12 and 13 may be formed into a great many dierent geometrical shapes and, after coating and ring, produce correspondingly shaped monolithic, internally supported refractory thin-walled bodies. By way of example, such shapes as would immediately occur to one skilled in the art include hollow cylindrical bodies, hollow pyramidal bodies, conical bodies, prismatic tubular bodies and others too numerous to list. In View of this, no attempt has been made to illustrate any such specific configuration.

With the foregoing in mind, it is my intention to cover all Ychanges and modifications'of theexarnple of the invention herein chosen for purposes of the disclosure, which do not constitute departures from the Vspirit and scope of the invention as dened by the following claim.

What I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States is:

A thin wall heat, flame and corrosion resistant strueture comprising in combination, a first and second group of substantially parallel lamentary metal wire elements, the said wire elements of the first group Vbeing interwoven with the wire elements of the second group and defining a flexible integral planar reticulated mesh, a plurality of helical metal wire support elements intertwined through the interstices of said mesh parallel to each other and to one of said groups of wire elements, each support element having its axis within the spatial limits of said mesh, each support element on two of its opposite sides longitudinally of its axis being intertwined in overlapped relation with adjacent support elements therealong and defining aligned spaces therebetween in the overlaps formed thereby, a plurality of said wide ele- References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 375,321 Guilleaume Dec. 20, 1887 1,389,942 Treyssinet Sept. 6, 1921 1,610,996 Bruckshaw Dec. 14, 1926 2,564,497 Navias Aug. 14, 1941 2,296,392 Marchant Sept. 22, 1942 2,298,102 Billner Oct. 6, 1942 2,321,813 Henzel June 15, 1943 FOREIGN PATENTS 117,942 Great Britain Aug. 8, 1918 195,005 Canada Dec. 16, 1918 244,144 Great Britain Dec. 2, 1925 463,816 Great Britain Apr. 7, 1937 502,488 Belgium Apr. 30, 1951 510,557 Belgium Apr. 30, 1952 

